After coming across this graph about the share of world GDP (China, India, and US), I started to wonder what was the percentage back to 1500? The graph below shows the share of GDP over the last 500 years for China, India, Japan, Latin America, Western Europe, and United States. (Keep in mind that the change in population size will effect the size of the GDP)

Data estimates for GDP from Angus Maddison Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Economics, University of Groningen.